The 19-year-old former Scotland Under-16 international had been part of City's Academy since joining from Crystal Palace at the start of the 2014/15 despite reported interest from Aston Villa and Celtic.

His impressive performances for the U21s saw him make his senior debut as a substitute at Wycombe Wanderers in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy 1-0 victory in September 2014 under former boss Steven Pressley.

Spence was offered a professional contract to stay with the club in the summer but opted not to sign it and had recently been on trial with League One rivals Millwall.

Tony Mowbray told the Telegraph in the summer: “I thought he could pick the ball up and travel with it OK but I haven’t really got involved and it's not really my remit at the moment.

“The boy is more than within his rights not to sign the contract or whatever he’s doing. If he’s looking elsewhere we have the compensation rights so if he signs somewhere else then so be it. I am not sitting here overly concerned about it.

“We can’t force him to sign a contract, we can only offer him one.”

Kyle Spence in action for Scotland U16s against England U16s in 2012

However, Spence has now returned to the Sky Blues with the Under-21s and could appear against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.

Under-21s coach Lee Glover said: "We're delighted to see Kyle link up with the squad and I'm sure he'll have a positive impact on the group.

"Kyle enjoyed a great season with the Academy last year and I'm sure his attributes, pace and agility, will only help us for the rest of the season.

"I'm looking forward to working with him to see what he can prove on the pitch."